This class is about staying smart and preventing yourself from getting into dangerous situations in the first place.

If we want to defend ourselves against violent attacks, we need to how they happen in the real world, how to see them coming, avoid them if possible, and when all else has failed, identify what we’re facing and respond accordingly. Otherwise we can spend years training for the wrong things and none of the likely realities, giving us dangerously false confidence and wasteful investment in irrelevant skills.

We’ll look at different types of violence and possible responses, identify warning signs and attack indicators, avoidance, places where violence is more likely to occur, and analyze videos of real incidents. If the venue allows, go out into an everyday environment and identify likely places for attacks, escape routes, etc. We’ll develop articulation skills by explaining what we see from several different points of view.

We’ll also cover ways to reduce your chances of being selected as a target, levels of force, how to call 911 and interact with police when they arrive, the legal and ethical aspects of force, attacker vs. defender goals, de-escalation , and dealing with the aftermaths (there are several to contend with) of violent encounters.

This course draws in part on the work of Rory Miller, Marc MacYoung, Peyton Quinn, Massad Ayoob, John Farnam, and Gavin de Becker, all of whom are recommended.

Stay awake to the ways of the world ’cause sh*t is deep
— Wu Tang Clan

Food service and retail are often high-cash-volume businesses that can make attractive targets for robbers.

This course was developed because a family friend regularly did bank runs with cash, took no meaningful security precautions, was targeted for robbery, and suffered severe injury and serious, permanent brain damage as a result of the attack.

While none of us can completely remove ourselves from criminals’ potential target lists, there are things we can do to lower our places on it. This course covers some of them, including basic security practices, awareness, avoidance, and deterrence to help you stay safe during the particularly vulnerable times of cashing out and making bank runs.

This class can optionally be held on-site and include analysis of your specific location.